news, local-news, Southern Wild Distillery George Burgess Providore Place Living City

Award-winning Devonport distiller George Burgess is counting down to his Southern Wild Distillery opening at its long-awaited new premises on Sunday. Burgess has been hands-on with the design of the fit-out and also designs his copper stills. He said opening day had been delayed by months due to holdups expected on any building project. His successful gin start-up previously operated at a temporary site in Fenton Way before it moved into the Providore Place food pavilion built as part of stage one of Devonport’s Living City urban renewal project. Mr Burgess said a day of family fun is planned on Sunday and the bar officially opens at 6 pm. “We’ve got kids activities and acts going on all day which are very family-friendly,” Mr Burgess said. “We aim to support as many local people as we can that’s really at the heart of Southern Wild Distillery. As a food technologist, I’m working with as many local growers as I can to try to value-add to their businesses.” When he heard local saffron growers lost their market, he produced a saffron-infused gin and his strawberry gin came about to help berry growers hit by the fruit fly incursion unable to sell fruit. Mr Burgess said his new distillery was designed to be as interactive as possible. ”The building is wrapped in glass, and we tried to place all the production activities in view so anyone who walks past can see the still and can see me doing the manufacturing. Along Oldaker Street, we have our bottling and labeling area where people can see us putting labels on and hand-filling bottles.” Mr Burgess said the ultimate gin experience is where he shows people how to build a gin and visitors can make and bottle their own recipe with a customised label. “We will take people out to the Dasher River to immerse them in our story and our landscape. We will pick ingredients and meet the growers.” He said the distillery outgrew its last space within a year and he expected to employ more people to work around the clock to meet future demand. He said production had tripled and could triple again at the site.

Southern Wild Distillery opens at Providore Place

Opening: George Burgess in his new Southern Wild Distillery premises at Devonport's Providore Place food pavilion. Picture: Neil Richardson.

Award-winning Devonport distiller George Burgess is counting down to his Southern Wild Distillery opening at its long-awaited new premises on Sunday.

Burgess has been hands-on with the design of the fit-out and also designs his copper stills.

He said opening day had been delayed by months due to holdups expected on any building project.

His successful gin start-up previously operated at a temporary site in Fenton Way before it moved into the Providore Place food pavilion built as part of stage one of Devonport’s Living City urban renewal project.

Mr Burgess said a day of family fun is planned on Sunday and the bar officially opens at 6 pm.

“We’ve got kids activities and acts going on all day which are very family-friendly,” Mr Burgess said.

Southern Wild Distillery opens at Providore Place

“We aim to support as many local people as we can that’s really at the heart of Southern Wild Distillery. As a food technologist, I’m working with as many local growers as I can to try to value-add to their businesses.”

When he heard local saffron growers lost their market, he produced a saffron-infused gin and his strawberry gin came about to help berry growers hit by the fruit fly incursion unable to sell fruit.

Mr Burgess said his new distillery was designed to be as interactive as possible.

”The building is wrapped in glass, and we tried to place all the production activities in view so anyone who walks past can see the still and can see me doing the manufacturing. Along Oldaker Street, we have our bottling and labeling area where people can see us putting labels on and hand-filling bottles.”

Mr Burgess said the ultimate gin experience is where he shows people how to build a gin and visitors can make and bottle their own recipe with a customised label. “We will take people out to the Dasher River to immerse them in our story and our landscape. We will pick ingredients and meet the growers.”

He said the distillery outgrew its last space within a year and he expected to employ more people to work around the clock to meet future demand. He said production had tripled and could triple again at the site.